1. Field of Technology
The present invention relates to a label printer having a peeling mechanism for peeling printed labels from a web liner carrying the labels. In particular, the present invention relates to a label printer having a label peeling mechanism attached to a printer cover which is mounted for freely opening and closing with respect to the label paper compartment in the printer housing
2. Description of Related Art
Label printers are used for printing labels with such information as a product name, price, and product code (barcode) for application to products. In the back room of a store, for example, such label printer is typically placed on a work table to print labels as the labels are affixed to the products. Label printers are also used to batch print multiple labels which are then taken to another location, such as the warehouse where the products are stored, for application to the individual products.
In the former application, a label peeling mechanism (also referred to simply as “peeling mechanism” hereinafter) is preferably used to automatically peel the labels one by one from the web liner as the labels are printed. Using a peeling mechanism in the latter method is even more desirable.
Label printers with such a peeling mechanism are disclosed in JP-A-4-272876, U.S. Pat. No. 5,980,138and JP-A-2004-21661, for example. These known label printers store, in a label paper compartment, a roll of label paper having labels affixed at a constant interval to the surface of a continuous web liner, and convey the labels past a printing mechanism for printing. The peeling mechanism conveys the label paper along a path bent at an acute angle thereby causing the printed labels to be gradually peeled one by one from the web liner and dispensed from a label dispenser opening.
This label dispensing mode of printing and peeling the labels one by one is referred to as the “peeling mode”. Some label printers can also operate in another label dispensing mode referred to as “non-peeling”, in which a specified number of labels are printed continuously without peeling the labels from the web liner.
Because the labels are dispensed in the non-peeling mode without being peeled from the web liner, the web transport paths downstream of the printing unit in the non-peeling mode and the peeling mode differ from each other. When loading label paper the user must therefore choose which paper transport path to use downstream of the printing unit depending on the desired label dispensing mode.
Different paper feed operations are also used depending on the label dispensing mode. More specifically, in the non-peeling mode the labels remain affixed to the web liner and the label paper is conveyed continuously to print and transport multiple labels without interruption. In the peeling mode, however, the label paper is conveyed intermittently, that is, it stops each time one label has been printed, and printing the next label starts after the previously printed label has been removed from the label dispenser opening. Printing and label paper transportation are thus intermittent operations. Thus, changing the dispensing mode requires more than simply changing the transport path, namely it also requires changing the paper feed control and printing control.
The known label printers described above have a cover mounted at the printer housing so that it can be opened and closed to expose or cover the label paper compartment. The cover can thus be opened to open the label paper compartment so that the label paper can be replaced. The cover can also be opened to open the paper transport path so that a paper jam can be removed.
The label printer taught JP-A-4-272876, for example, has a sheet cover disposed at the back side of the printer and a printer cover disposed at the front side of the printer. The sheet cover is used to open and close the label paper compartment of the printer, and the printer cover is used to open and close the printing mechanism and peeling mechanism of the printer. The problem with this arrangement is that both the sheet cover and the printer cover must be opened at the same time in order to load sheet label paper into the label printer. This requires operations at both the front and back of the printer, which is a bother.
Furthermore, the sheet cover must be large enough to allow replacing a roll of label paper. The printer thus requires a relatively large space to open and close the covers at the front and at the back. This is particularly a problem when it is necessary to open and close the printer covers in a limited working space such as on the work table where products are also placed for labeling.
When the peeling mechanism is housed inside the printer housing, opening and closing the covers to remove the web liner or labels jammed in the transport path of the peeling mechanism is particularly difficult.